The polar opposite of the cutthroat “holiday run” I described last week would have to be Fleet Feet’s Annual Monster Mash Dash at Montrose Harbor in Chicago. It’s technically just a sideline, something fun for the kids to do after their parents sweat it out in the Trick or Treat Trot 10k/5k earlier that same morning. For the little chickens, cowboys and Spidermen who take part in the “race,” though, it’s nothing short of amazing.
This video clip doesn’t really do justice to the joyful chaos: chubby arms flung out, wings/claws/capes fluttering in the breeze, no thought for watches or mile markers— not even a consciousness of the finish line, let alone an awareness of its supposed significance.
Next time you start to take your exercise routine too seriously, remember those childhood days of “glad animal movement” that Wordsworth praised in Tintern Abbey and flap your own wings a little!
Jeanine Casler lives, writes, and runs in Evanston, Illinois.
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November 19th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
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